by the University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Michigan.— Environmental conditions are much more powerful than genetic influences in determining intelligence, according to University of Michigan social psychologist Richard E. Nisbett.
Nisbett is the author of “Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count,” to be published Feb. 2, 2009, by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
According to Nisbett, recent research in psychology, genetics, and neuroscience, and new studies on the effectiveness of educational interventions, have shown that intelligence is strongly affected by environmental factors that have nothing to do with genes. In the book, Nisbett analyzes a large number of such studies, showing how environment influences not just IQ as measured by standardized tests but also actual achievement.
“Believing that intelligence is under your control – and having parents who demand achievement – can do wonders,” Nisbett writes.
For example, the high academic and occupational attainment of Asians and Jews is not due to higher IQs, but to family values that emphasize accomplishment and intellectual attainment, and to cultures that emphasize hard work and persistence.
Likewise, Nisbett points out, genes play no role in race differences in IQ between Blacks and Caucasians. Class and race differences starting in early infancy combine with neighborhood, cultural, and educational differences that widen this gap.
“We need intensive early childhood education for the poor, and home visits to teach parents how to encourage intellectual development,” Nisbett writes.
“Such efforts can produce huge immediate gains in IQ and enormous long-term gains in academic achievement and occupational attainment. Highly ambitious elementary, junior high, and high school programs can also produce massive gains in academic achievement.
And a variety of simple, cost-free interventions, including, most notably, simply convincing students that their intelligence is under their control to a substantial extent, can make a big difference to academic achievement.”
The U.S. has fallen behind most of the developed world in its level of educational achievement, Nisbett points out, attributing this deficit to the large and widening gaps between socioeconomic classes in this country.Being poor is linked with many environmental factors of a biological and social nature that lower IQ and acedmic achievement.
These factors include poor nutrition, inferior medical care, a low rate of breastfeeding and parenting styles that are much less warm and supportive than those of higher socioeconomic status parents. Not only are many U.S. Blacks affl icted with these problems, he points out, they also struggle with stereotypes and prejudice that intensify decreases in performance.
Nisbett singles out several educational intervention programs that have been shown to be effective in closing the racial and socioeconomic gap in school achievement. He also debunks the claims of success in other programs and techniques, including the No Child Left Behind Act.
